


Sleepy Cuddles

by quicksilversquared



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alya and Nino are fantastic wingpeople, Beach cuddles, Camping, Field trips, Gen, Sleepy Cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-17
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-05-21 05:21:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6039838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quicksilversquared/pseuds/quicksilversquared
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Both Adrien and Marinette have the tendency to cuddle up to others in their sleep, as both Nino and Alya have experienced. So when the opportunities arise, they toss their friends together and let the snuggles commence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Cuddlers

"You look like shit, dude," Nino informed his best friend as soon as he stepped out of his car in front of the school. "Did you sleep at _all_ last night?"

Adrien shook his head as he pulled his shoulder bag and a pillow out of the car and shut the door. Seconds later, it pulled away. "No, I-" He yawned widely. "I was too excited. I couldn't sleep, and so I turned the news on and Ladybug was fighting an akuma, so..."

"So you stayed up and watched her," Nino finished. He shook his head. "You're such a fanboy. Couldn't you have recorded the news and watched it after the trip?"

Adrien grinned sheepishly. "Didn't think of that. Besides, I didn't think the fight would go on so long."

Nino groaned. "Dude. You're not going to be any fun to sit next to on the bus ride, are you? You're going to sleep the whole way there."

"Sorry."

They piled onto the bus, which was already half-filled despite the early hour. Most of the students had headed for the back of the bus, far from the teachers' watchful eyes. Adrien slid into the second row, stashing his bag under the seat in front of him. His pillow went up against the window and it only took part of a minute for his eyes to droop shut. He already drifted completely off when Nino, already bored, spotted Marinette and Alya headed for the bus. Marinette looked dead on her feet.

"You, too?" Nino asked as soon as the girls climbed onto the bus, headed for the seat in front of the boys. "All right, Alya and I are sitting together, and you two sleepyheads can snooze in the same row."

The fact that Marinette didn't react to that at all was a true indicator of how incredibly tired she really was. Nino guided her into the seat next to Adrien, taking the blanket Alya carried and tossing it over both Adrien and Marinette. When he glanced back a minute later, Marinette was already asleep, curled up against Adrien's side with her cheek squished up against his shoulder.

He took a picture.

"Why was Marinette up so late?" Nino asked Alya as they settled into their own seats in front of their sleeping friends. "Adrien apparently got too caught up in watching Ladybug's fight last night that he forgot that he could just record it and watch it at a _normal_ time."

"She got some really good design ideas and apparently just _had_ to write them down. She even had tape on her dress form, so whatever idea it was must have been a doozy." Alya rolled her eyes. "Honestly, it's a good thing it's not a regular school day. At least they can sleep on the bus."

"I'm so glad I'm not into anything that keeps me up all night. I don't know how either of them even manages." Nino twisted around to look at the sleeping duo again. They had somehow shifted even closer to each other.

He took another picture.

Both he and Alya tensed up as Chloe and Sabrina boarded the bus. Thankfully, the blonde was too busy relaying a story to Sabrina as she passed to notice Adrien and Marinette, and her simpering shadow was too busy hanging on her every word to notice either. They both breathed out sighs of relief as Chloe and Sabrina settled halfway back on the bus, keeping away from both the louder kids in back and the watchful eyes of the teachers on the trip.

At seven thirty on the dot, the teachers climbed on the bus, took a quick head count, and sat down as the bus rumbled to a start.

"I'm excited for the trip," Nino said as the bus wound through the streets of Paris. The sun was just starting to rise higher in the sky. "No regular classes for the day..."

"No homework," Alya chimed in in agreement. "It'll be fabulous."

Nino nodded in fervent agreement.

* * *

An hour into the trip, the city had fallen away to suburbs and countryside. Nino and Alya were still chattering away, occasionally glancing back at their friends. Marinette's head was pillowed on Adrien's chest, her hand clutching at his jacket. From the way the blanket sat, it looked like Adrien's arm was probably wrapped around her back.

"You're not going to have any space left on your phone if you take pictures of them the entire way there," Alya joked as Nino snapped a couple more pictures of Marinette and Adrien. "They're cute, though, aren't they?"

"Rest stop in ten minutes, is anyone interested?" Miss Bustier asked loudly. There were several affirmative noises from the students.

"Adrien is _such_ a cuddler, it's ridiculous," Nino said as they glanced over their shoulders again. "And he's _clingy_ when he gets up. I learned that the hard way."

Alya couldn't completely smother the giggles from that particular statement. "Okay, I need to know. Details, please."

"We had a sleepover and fell asleep playing video games. I woke up with Adrien practically on top of me." Nino mock-glared at Alya's snort. "I was traumatized, all right? And when I tried to wake him up, he was acting like I was his teddy bear or something!"

"So what you're saying is that we should wake Mari up first, so she can enjoy the entirety of Adrien's sleepy cuddles?"

Nino laughed at that. "Oh, man, you gotta record that. It'll be great." He glanced over at Alya. "So, is Marinette a cuddler as well? I told you my cuddly Adrien story. You two have had enough sleepovers that you _have_ to have a funny story or two."

Alya rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah, Marinette's a cuddler all right. And I need my space to sleep. Having too many blankets on top of me bugs me, so imagine what it was like for me to wake up to have a _person_ half on top of me. Mari has a chaise in her room, so I always sleep there whenever we do sleepovers." She got cut off as the bus pulled sharply off the highway, headed for the rest station.

"Tell me I'm not the only one who wants to take advantage of them being dead to the world," Nino said suddenly, turning to Alya. "This opportunity is just too good to pass up."

"What are you thinking?" Alya asked cautiously. "We're not drawing on their faces. The teachers would kill us, and Adrien's photographers would as well. Besides, that's just _mean._ "

"No, no. I was thinking about taking advantage of their tendency to cuddle. What if we moved Marinette into Adrien's lap, then turned Adrien a bit so he's reclining-"

"Oh my god, that would be adorable." They exchanged a fist bump. As the bus slowed to a stop and several students piled out, Madam Mendeleiev close behind, Nino set to work rearranging their friends. Alya hung over the back of the seat taking pictures and giggling as Marinette snuggled up against Adrien. The blond boy's hand curled up over Marinette's hip just as Nino tossed Marinette's blanket back over both of them. Job done, they scooted back to their seats just as students started returning from the bathroom.

"I'm so glad no one has alerted Chloe," Nino whispered as students passed. Most were focused on getting back to their friends and passed by without a glance. While no one in their class would rat them out- with the exception of Chloe and Sabrina- their class had been combined with another for the field trip, and there were more than a couple Adrien Agreste fangirls in the other class. They would positively _die_ of jealousy if they saw the position he and Marinette were in right now.

"We'll be to our destination soon," Miss Bustier announced from the front of the bus as it pulled out onto the highway once again. She glanced at Marinette and Adrien, then at Nino and Alya. "Are Marinette and Adrien still sleeping? Can you two wake them up?"

"It can wait until we've gotten to Normandy," Nino assured her. "Where are we going first? Monet's house? I've been there before; I can start waking them up when we get close."

Miss Bustier nodded and turned around to face the front again. Alya and Nino exchanged a fist bump.

"They might wake up before we get there," Alya said as they glanced at their sleeping friends again. "I mean, the trip takes what? Three hours?"

"They both seemed pretty out of it, though," Nino argued. "I bet they'll still be sound asleep."

* * *

As it turned out, Nino was right. Adrien and Marinette were very much out of it as the bus entered Normandy and headed from their first stop. Nino hung over the back of the seat with his phone filming as Alya slid back to rouse their sleeping friends. Marinette had her head pillowed on Adrien's chest again, her fingers snagged in the collar of Adrien's shirt. Alya lifted Marinette's blanket to find that Adrien's arms were wrapped around Marinette, one hand resting on her stomach and the other cupping her shoulder. Alya let Nino get a good view before dropping the blanket again and poking Marinette.

"Marinette, time to get up," Alya singsonged.

There was a pause, then- "No. Already got up today."

"Yes, but you fell asleep again."

"Don't wanna."

"But aren't you uncomfortable right now?" Alya prompted as Marinette tried to burrow deeper into Adrien's chest. Marinette shook her head.

"No, this is cozy and my pillow is warm. I wanna keep it."

Both Alya and Nino laughed at that, waking Marinette up fully just as Adrien started to stir. She let out a squeak of alarm as soon as she saw just _who_ she had been sleeping on and tried to pull away. Adrien immediately tightened his arms, pulling her back onto him while he slowly woke up. Marinette squirmed in his arms, blushing brightly.

"It's too briiiiight," Adrien complained as he woke up, releasing Marinette to cover his eyes. Marinette immediately broke away from him, stumbling into Alya and clutching her blanket. Adrien blinked owlishly at them as he woke up further. "What's going on?"

"We're almost to our first stop," Nino informed his friend. "We thought it was time you got up."

"Yeah, of course." Adrien struggled his way upright. "Um, Nino? Why is your phone pointed at me? Are you filming something?"

Nino snickered. "You're a cute sleeper, especially when you're cuddling with someone who's not _me_."

It only took seconds for Adrien's brain to wake up enough for him to put the pieces together. His eyes flashed to Marinette as a flush overtook his cheeks. " _Nino_."

"Don't worry, I got lots of pictures!"

"NINO!"


	2. Camping Cuddles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mix-up in camping equipment means that Alya, Marinette, Adrien, and Nino all have to share a tent on a two-night camping trip with Nino’s parents. Of course Marinette and Adrien end up sleeping side by side, and of course the cuddlers can’t resist, well, cuddling.

Adrien hefted his sleeping bag up onto his shoulder as they headed up to the campsite. He was bouncing on his toes, by far the most excited member of the group.

"Wait up, Adrien, you're going to overshoot our site," Nino laughed. Behind him, Alya and Marinette hauled their own sleeping bags and bags, loaded down like packhorses. Marinette seemed to be doing better than Alya, whose muscles were already complaining.

"I've never gone camping before! This is gonna be so cool!" Adrien slowed down though, waiting for Nino to catch up. They reached the campsite quickly and dumped their bags on the table, careful to not let their pillows hit the ground. After a minute of catching their breath, Nino's parents _still_ hadn't shown up at the campsite.

"Should we go back to see what's wrong?" Adrien asked, frowning. "They'll probably need help carrying the other stuff."

Nino nodded in agreement, and all four headed back to the car. There, they saw his parents frowning as they dug through the trunk of the car. The cooler was already out, as were the other bags. Within moments, the problem became apparent.

There were only two tents.

"The people at the camping equipment rental place must have gotten our order wrong," Nino's mother sighed. "We have a two-person tent and a four-person tent, so there should be enough space, but we'll have to put all of you kids together."

Alya grinned and nudged Marinette's elbow excitedly. Marinette blushed lightly, glancing over at the boys. Ever since she fell asleep against Adrien on a field trip, Alya wouldn't let her forget it. Marinette strongly suspected that there had been some manipulation on Alya and Nino's part to get her and Adrien in the position they finally ended up in, but neither would admit to it. She honestly wouldn't put it past them to have somehow altered the rental form too, just so they would end up in this situation.

"That'll be fine, Mom," Nino reassured her. "We'll squish together. Marinette and Alya are small enough that they practically only count as one person, anyway."

"Hey!" both girls complained. Nino grinned.

They all took up another load as Nino's parents finished clearing out the car. Adrien charged ahead again, as excited as a child on Christmas morning, Marinette trailing not far behind. Nino and Alya hung behind, grinning as soon as they were out of sight of his parents.

"We'll have to put you and Marinette on one side and Adrien and I on the other side," Nino said immediately. "My parents will think something's up otherwise. But we can put Marinette and Adrien together in the middle."

Alya grinned. "My thoughts exactly. And we can put our something in between us and them, so when they inevitably cuddle up to someone..."

"It will be each other," Nino finished, grinning. "Fantastic. They're adorable together."

"I brought all of my portable battery chargers," Alya spoke up eagerly. "So we can always have our phones on to catch them."

"Is _that_ how your phone never dies when you're filming Ladybug? I did wonder." They entered the campsite, where Adrien and Marinette were already waiting. "I have our tent, so we can get it set up right away!"

Ten minutes and a lot of somewhat muffled swearing later, their tent was erected. There was just one small problem with it.

" _This_ is a four-person tent?" Marinette exclaimed, voicing all of their thoughts. "It looks more like a two-person tent!"

"It gets cold at night, so it's better if we're all close together," Nino said cheerfully. Adrien turned to give him a suspicious look. Nino ignored him. "Alya and I already called dibs on the outer edges!"

Adrien opened his mouth to protest as Alya and Nino dove into the tent to set up their own sleeping pads and sleeping bags, then closed it again. Had Nino forgotten his tendency to cuddle up to things- or people- when he was sleeping? If he was in the middle, there was no chance that he _wouldn't_ end up curled up next to someone. If he was on the end, there was at least a chance that he might just end up with his face pressed to the tent wall instead of ending up tangled up with someone.

Behind Adrien, Marinette's face was turning pink. She knew perfectly well what her friends were up to. Both she and Adrien seemed to cuddle up to others when asleep; Nino and Alya had taken advantage of that before, even if they wouldn't admit it. They just wanted to see how tangled the two of them could get if they were sleeping side-by-side on the ground.

...she wasn't _objecting_ , necessarily, but her face was probably going to be flaming for _ages_ after they woke up in the morning.

It didn't take long for them to jam their things into the tent, which was looking incredibly cramped for four people. Even if she and Adrien _didn't_ end up gravitating towards each other in the middle of the night, they would be only inches away.

_Oh god, please don't let me get bad morning breath._

Dinner was a lively affair, pizza toppings and bread grilled inside hot irons to make pizza pies. Adrien managed to both under- and over-cook his first attempt, grinning all the while. S'mores for dessert got everyone's hands sticky, and soon the sky was dark and they were washing up for bed.

"Are you doing all right, Tikki?" Marinette whispered as soon as she was alone. "Do I need to try to sneak any more cookies to you?"

"Oh, no, Marinette, I have plenty." Tikki waved a full cookie to illustrate. "I shouldn't run out until midday tomorrow at the earliest. Just make sure you put your purse somewhere where the cookies and I won't get squished!"

Marinette giggled as she closed her purse and started digging through her bag for her toothbrush and toothpaste. She was going to _scrub_ her teeth clean tonight. No bad morning breath for her!

* * *

The boys changed in the tent first before climbing out to let the girls take their turn. Adrien had already rinsed his hair to get the styling gel out, so his blond hair was falling messily around his face. He was trying to shove his bangs straight back so that he wouldn't have such a strong resemblance to Chat Noir, but his hair just wouldn't cooperate.

_Of course. Of course it wouldn't cooperate on the one night I'm in very close proximity to one of the most inquisitive reporters in the city!_

"We're decent!" Alya called from inside the tent. Nino immediately unzipped the tent and crawled to his side of the tent. Adrien followed, turning around awkwardly to zip the tent back up behind them and almost tripping over Marinette's feet when his bangs flopped in front of his eyes.

"Hopefully no one needs to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night," Nino joked as Adrien flopped onto his sleeping bag. The bag stuffed in between his and Nino's sleeping bags did not go unnoticed. Clearly his friend _had_ remembered Adrien's tendency to snuggle up to people and was trying to deter it. "You'd have to wake everyone up just to get out."

"If I'm going to go waltzing through the woods in the middle of the night, you can bet that I'll wake you all up and make you come with me," Alya joked. She moved the flashlight aside so she could slip further into her bag, sending the shadows in the tent reeling. In between them, Marinette had already cuddled deep into her sleeping bag. The tip of a blanket peeked out the top and side.

The _open_ side, Adrien noted. The open side next to _him._ And he also slept with his sleeping bag open, because it felt too constricting otherwise. And his bag's zipper was on Marinette's side.

They were _definitely_ going to end up closer than intended. There was no way to avoid it. He was probably going to end up stealing her blanket in his sleep too.

"So, do you want to go straight to sleep or tell stories first?" Alya asked. She looked the most awake out of all of them. "If it was just Marinette and I in our own tent, I'm sure we'd stay up talking all night, but-"

"Sleep is good," Marinette's sleeping bag said. Only the top of her head stuck out.

"Sleep," Adrien agreed. He was too tired to think properly, and so if Alya started quizzing him about his current resemblance to Chat Noir, he wouldn't be able to come up with any believable excuses.

Nino let out a huff. "You two are no fun. Alya, we're moving my sleeping bag over there tomorrow night so we can keep talking while these two can get their precious _sleep_."

Alya made a giggly noise of agreement as Adrien copied Marinette and burrowed into his sleeping bag. It wasn't terribly hot or cold, but there was enough of a chill in the air that made him want to warm up, and his sleeping bag was still cool. The catlike part of his brain whispered ' _Warmth over there. Source of heat has been found_.'

He was _not_ going to curl up next to Marinette right away like some sort of creeper. His sleeping bag would warm up soon enough. Probably.

He managed to stay on his own sleeping mat at least for as long as it took him to fall asleep. Somehow, between that time and the morning, Adrien scooted out of his sleeping bag and over to Marinette's, pulling his bag along with him as he curled up against her back.

Nino and Alya were ecstatic when they woke up. Adrien appeared to have claimed Marinette as his own, his face pressed against her neck. A quick glance under their sleeping bags by Nino told them that yep, Adrien's arm was wrapped around Marinette's waist. Marinette didn't seem to mind, given the slight smile she had on her face as she slept on.

Outside the tent, Nino's parents were getting breakfast ready. It was only a matter of time before they came to wake up the four friends, so Nino and Alya set to work trying to wake up Adrien and Marinette. Both held their phones in their hands, recording the whole thing because it was adorable... and would serve as _excellent_ blackmail should the need ever arise.

"Adrien. Marinette. Time to get up."

Marinette responded first, yawning and pushing herself up to stretch. She was stopped by the arm around her waist, tugging her back into the sleeping bag. She paused, confused.

"Adrien, let go of Marinette," Nino chided, sounding thoroughly amused.

"No. Mine." Marinette's face turned bright red as Adrien pressed his face into the small of her back, trying to pull her back into bed.

Alya cackled from behind her phone.

"Adrien, really." Nino was trying hard not to laugh. "Marinette is not a teddy bear. Let her up."

"But whhhhy-" Adrien's voice cut off abruptly as he finally woke up properly. He released Marinette and scooted back to his proper spot. "Oh. Sorry, Marinette."

"Th- that's fine," Marinette stuttered, her face rapidly becoming red. "I'm, uh, gonna-" With a squeak, she wriggled completely out of her sleeping bag and unzipped the tent entrance, rushing off to the bathroom. Giggling, Alya followed.

"I'm so glad that I wasn't the one you decided to cuddle with, Adrien." Nino shook his head as the incredibly disheveled model sat up, his hair a complete bird's nest. "Really? ' _No, mine_ '?"

Adrien's cheeks turned pink. "I was still half asleep. And she was warm and smelled nice."

"Dude." Nino shook his head. "Okay, we are keeping the bed set up as-is. This is hilarious."

Adrien frowned as he worked his way out of the pile of sleeping bags. "Marinette might not be comfortable with it, though. Especially after this morning." He started working a comb through his tangled hair. "Nino- are you still filming? NINO!"

His friend cackled. "You just said Marinette smelled nice on camera. I'm keeping it. You have an unusual lack of filter when you've just woken up."

Alya and Marinette had just returned from the bathroom as Adrien lunged at Nino, trying to grab his camera. Nino dashed away into the bathroom, leaving Adrien to nearly run into Marinette.

"They're impossible," Adrien groaned as Alya giggled. "You guys just had to film that, didn't you?"

"I'm changing my lock screen until we're back home and I can save this on my computer!" Nino called from in the bathroom.

" _NINO!"_

* * *

The day continued, filled with hiking and games and cooking over the campfire. Adrien didn't think that he had _ever_ had so much fun. As afternoon turned into evening and evening turned into night, though, clouds built up in the formerly-clear sky.

"There'll be a storm tonight," Nino's father said as he checked him phone. "Probably some thunder and lightning as well. It's a good thing that we're heading home tomorrow, since it doesn't look like this weather will clear up anytime soon."

Adrien only just managed to muffle his groan. He _hated_ thunderstorms and had ever since his mother had vanished during one. That hatred of thunderstorms had only gotten stronger ever since he became Chat Noir. It was bad enough when he was in his room or in a car during a storm; he could only _imagine_ how terrifying a storm would seem in the relatively flimsy tent.

The drizzle started up as they finished eating. Adrien immediately made a dash to the tent to grab his rain jacket out from his bag and zip it up securely, hiding his face from the rain as much as he could.

"He doesn't like the rain," Nino explained to his slightly amused parents. Over by the campfire ring, Marinette and Alya were spinning around in the light drizzle, giggling about something and unbothered by the rain. Adrien huddled further into his jacket.

They all retreated to their tents early that night. Adrien contemplated zipping up his sleeping bag to at least _try_ to prevent himself from ending up curled up around Marinette before deciding it was probably a lost cause. Besides, he hadn't slept as well as he had the previous night for _ages_.

"It's waaay too early to be going to sleep," Alya complained as they all wriggled into their sleeping bags. "Scary stories, maybe? Or embarrassing stories from your childhood?"

"I am _not_ sharing embarrassing kiddie stories," Nino said immediately. "And that's hardly fair anyway! Alya, I've known you and Marinette for _ages!_ There's nobody to tell embarrassing stories about Adrien!"

"That's not a bad thing," Adrien said immediately. Granted, he didn't _have_ that many embarrassing stories, since his father kept him stringently in line to keep him from embarrassing the family name and had been doing so for ages. He just rarely was given the _chance_ to embarrass himself.

Alya huffed. "Fine. So do you have any other ideas? It's not even nine yet, there's no way I'm going to sleep already."

Nino whipped out his phone and typed something in, looking up activities to do in a tent. They all waited as an internet page loaded with agonizing slowness. Finally he looked up from the screen.

"Okay, I have some possible games here. Um, there's making up a fairytale, where you start with a sentence and then have the next person continue it- or you can do it by paragraph-"

"Oh! I've done something similar, except it's written on a piece of paper and the person writing only can see the sentence from the person before them," Marinette cut across. She was grinning. "It's fun, especially with a larger group."

"I don't think we qualify as a large group," Alya laughed. "Keep reading, Nino."

"Mad Libs- but we would need a book of them, or at least look it up online, and the connection is painfully slow," Nino sighed. He scrolled down more. "There's tracing words onto the next player's back and trying to guess what is being spelled."

"I think that might be difficult since we're all sitting in a straight line," Adrien pointed out.

"The other games involve cards," Nino sighed. "I think we should try Mari's version of the story game. Anyone have paper?"

The four of them passed almost two hours playing the game, laughing at the stories they came up with as the rain got heavier. Adrien snuggled as far into his sleeping bag as he could while playing, all the while tempted to try to snitch Marinette's blanket. It might be pink, but it was fuzzy and warm and smelled like cookies.

"I think we should probably try to sleep now," Nino said as Marinette yawned again. "Adrien, do you think you can stay in your own sleeping bag for _one_ night?"

"No promises," Adrien said immediately. Next to him, Marinette flushed.

The tent fell dark as they all turned off their flashlights. The sounds of sleeping bags rustling as they got settled gradually gave way to even breathing and rain pattering on the tent. Adrien couldn't get completely comfortable though, falling into a light doze only to wake up again minutes later. The rain got heavier, and the first flash of lightning lit up the sky outside. Adrien's breath caught in his throat.

Oh, there was _no way_ he was sleeping now.

Everything he hated about thunderstorms was made a hundred times worse when he was out in a tent instead of in his home. The wind felt like it was going to rip the flimsy fabric of the tent apart, the patter of the rain was relentless and overwhelming, he could _see_ the lightning even through the tent and the rain tarp and the roar of thunder was _way_ too close and too loud.

It was on nights like these that, when he was young, he would go crawl into his mom's bed and sleep there. His mom wasn't around any more, though.

...maybe Marinette wouldn't object to being snuggled up to? Nino would just shove him away, he knew that- apparently there was something weird about two guys sleeping that close together? - but Marinette wouldn't mind, right?

At the next rumble of thunder, his mind shoved all of his doubts away. Adrien slid out of his sleeping bag and right into Marinette's, pulling his now-empty bag over both of them. He snuggled up to her side, pressing his face against her back. Marinette let out a quiet whine of protest as his body bumped into hers, and then her eyes fluttered open slowly.

_Whoops. I've been caught._

"Adrien, get back to your own sleeping bag," Marinette muttered sleepily, pushing gently at his face. " _Adrien._ "

"But I don't like storms," Adrien whined quietly. His tone of voice _should_ have made him blush, but he wanted to stay right here too much. The warmth of another body right next to his was a huge comfort in a storm like this. "Pleeeeeease?"

There was a pause from Marinette. "You don't like storms?"

Adrien shook his head, face still firmly pressed against her back. The roar of thunder made him flinch, his arms tightening momentarily around Marinette. "Please?"

"Okay, okay," Marinette sighed, relenting immediately. "But I have a better idea." Before Adrien could ask, she hauled him over herself to her other side. "There. Now you're on the closed side of the sleeping bag."

The difference was _amazing._ Adrien definitely felt more secure like this. Marinette rolled over so she was facing him and pulled him close. Adrien didn't even hesitate before cuddling up to her, pressing his cheek against her chest.

He was so _warm_. Being buried so deep in Marinette's sleeping bag also muffled the sounds of the storm and completely blocked out the flashes of lightning. _Purr-fect_. It didn't take long for either of them to fall asleep.

The next morning, their friends found them completely tangled up in Marinette's bag, Adrien's face pressed to Marinette's chest and their arms around each other.

And of course, like the good friends they were, Alya and Nino took _plenty_ of pictures before they woke the sleeping duo up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally this was only supposed to be two chapters. A plot bunny ran me over and now it looks like there will be three chapters total.


	3. Cuddles on the Beach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the quartet heads to the beach, it’s only a matter of time before Alya and Nino try to get Marinette and Adrien to fall asleep on top of each other again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry for the wait, but life was busy (seventeen job applications plus two grad school applications) and I was having some problems with scene transitions.
> 
> Also: just to clarify, all chapters are part of the same story, but don't happen one after another. There may be days/weeks/months in between them.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy! And reviews always make my day :)

The next time Nino and Alya struck, the four of them had gone to a beach, accompanied by Nino's parents. It was sunny, it was hot, and the day was absolutely gorgeous. Adrien had bounced excitedly in his seat for the entire drive from Paris, despite how early they had to get up in order to get to the ocean at a reasonable time of day. He had never been to the beach before for the sole purpose of hanging out.

Of course, all the fun started once they got to the beach. Both girls had opted to wear their swimsuits under their clothes, and both Adrien and Nino wore their swim trunks. Nino and Alya stripped as soon as their towels were set up on the ground, tossing shirts and shorts into their bags. Adrien hesitated, glancing around the beach for any lurking fangirls before tugging his shirt off.

Marinette was frozen, her eyes locked on Adrien's bare back as her cheeks heated up. She had expected that Adrien would be in pretty good shape, given all of his activities. She had not been expecting him to be as incredibly fit as he was. Lean muscles crisscrossed his back and ran down his arms, and those _legs..._

"Girl, close your mouth and stop drooling," Alya hissed, elbowing Marinette until her mouth snapped shut. "Are you taking your shirt and shorts off?"

"I can't just strip in front of-" Marinette waved her hand frantically in Adrien's direction. The boy in question was not helping matters at all by stretching his arms over his head, his muscles standing out in high definition as he rolled his shoulders. Alya snickered.

"Of course you can. You're wearing your swimsuit, right?" Alya pulled out the sunscreen and quickly spread it up and down her arms. Marinette let out a small squeak. Alya took that as an affirmative. "He's not going to judge you or anything."

Adrien turned to watch the girls as he applied sunscreen to his face. Marinette was bright pink, and he wasn't sure if the sun was already getting to her or if Alya was teasing Marinette about something. Marinette was toying with the edge of her shirt nervously as Alya said something. All of a sudden, the dark-haired girl tugged her shirt up over her head and Adrien had to force himself to yank his gaze away so he wouldn't stare. Marinette was just as in shape as he was, and her swimsuit was adorable.

Two minutes later, Adrien looked up to ask Nino for help applying sunscreen to his back, only to find both Nino and Alya missing.

* * *

"Oh, he's going to ask Marinette for help," Alya said delightedly as she peered around a bush near the bathroom, camera in hand. She zoomed in, focusing on their friends. Marinette was going steadily redder as she took the bottle of sunscreen from Adrien and started spreading it over his back. "Ooh, you go, girl! Feel up those muscles!"

"Alya!" Nino scolded, laughing despite himself. "You're awful, honestly."

"Oh, come on. Adrien is ripped. Marinette's a lucky girl to be able to run her hands all over that." Alya wriggled her eyebrows at Nino, who only rolled his eyes in response. Alya turned back to her phone, snapping a few pictures so she could tease Marinette later. Her best friend was going even redder as Adrien took the sunscreen back and started running his hands over the exposed expanse of Marinette's back.

Nino snickered. "More blackmail material?"

"You know it."

* * *

As the sun rose higher in the sky, the four friends played in the water and swam around, doing more splashing than actual swimming. Marinette was having trouble keeping her eyes off Adrien, who looked impossibly hotter soaking wet and laughing than he did normally.

By the time lunch rolled around, they were all starting to drag. Adrien was the first to nod off on his towel, followed quickly by Marinette. Alya was the first to notice her snoozing friends and her devious grin tipped Nino off. He followed her gaze and grinned as well.

"How deeply asleep do you think they are?" Nino asked, dropping his voice. "Like, if we moved them, would they wake up?"

"Let's give them ten more minutes," Alya suggested. She pulled her sunscreen bottle out of her bag and started covering her legs again. "Weren't they both awake the whole drive down? They're probably exhausted."

"I know Adrien was awake the whole time since he was so excited. I didn't know Marinette was as well."

Alya giggled as she rubbed the sunscreen into her arms. "Marinette was busy watching Adrien be excited. Apparently it was adorable enough to entertain her the whole ride down." She tossed her bottle to Nino. "Screen up. Being in the water makes it wear off faster."

"No thanks, I'm good." Nino tossed the bottle back to Alya. "It just feels so greasy and I already have dark skin, what are the chances I'm going to burn?"

Alya snickered. "I mean, if you really want skin cancer, go ahead and skip the sunscreen. It's no skin off my nose." She dabbed some sunscreen on her face as she spoke.

"I put sunscreen on earlier. I'll be fine."

"Sunscreen can wear off."

Nino made a face. "It was the fancy waterproof stuff. What are you, my mom?"

Alya rolled her eyes at him again. "No, I just didn't want to have to hear your whining for the rest of the trip just because you got a little pink."

"I'm not going to whine."

They shook on it, then glanced at their sleeping friends.

"Do you think they would snuggle in this weather? It's absolutely boiling out," Nino pointed out. "Like, no offense, but I wouldn't want to even sit too close to you right now. I might melt."

"It wouldn't hurt to try! Don't back out on me now." Alya grinned as she watched their friends sleep. Sure, they had gotten Adrien and Marinette to snuggle before and even share a sleeping bag. But it never got old watching Marinette flail when she realized how close she had gotten to Adrien once again, and their half-asleep mumblings were always amusing. Besides, Adrien was still shirtless and Marinette was only wearing her red and black two-piece swimsuit. Alya couldn't resist. The towels that their two friends were laying on were just begging to be dragged closer together.

"I wasn't going to back out." Nino lurched to his feet, tossing the sunscreen back in his bag. "Do you want to move them now?"

"If they ask, we moved the towels so other people would have more space," Alya proposed, getting up in answer to Nino's question. They took hold of Marinette's towel's corners and started tugging it slowly closer to Adrien. Marinette didn't stir at all.

Nino paused to let his gaze slowly cross the mostly-barren beach, raising an eyebrow as he turned back to face Alya. "Yeah, to make space for all of the nonexistent people."

Alya shrugged. "Someone might show up and want space."

"And that meter of sand between Adrien and Marinette was real prime estate." Nino nodded seriously, hiding a grin. "That is the most awful lie you've ever come up with. I hope you know that."

* * *

As it turned out, even the heat couldn't keep Marinette and Adrien from instinctively curving closer to each other. Even only fifteen minutes in, Adrien's arm curved around Marinette's back as her head rested on his shoulder and one of her arms draped across his chest.

"You guys should probably apply sunscreen again if you haven't already," Nino's mom called from her spot further up on the beach. "It wears off after a couple of hours, especially if you've been in the water."

"Okay, okay," Nino called back, sighing as he turned back to Alya in defeat. He rolled his eyes as soon as his back was turned on his parents, tossing his phone back in his bag. "It's not like I never burn or anything- oh, wait, that's right. I _don't_ ever burn."

"That's because your parents make you wear sunscreen, stupid." Alya paused, sunscreen bottle in hand as she offered it to Nino. "But I just thought of something. Adrien and Marinette are more likely to get burned than we are."

Nino groaned. "Don't say that we have to wake them up."

"We _should.._." Alya started, glancing over at her sleeping friends. In her sleep, Marinette made a contented noise and moved closer to Adrien. His hand tightened around her hip.

"They don't _look_ burned yet..." Nino tried, absently wondering just when he'd turned into such a sap. Normally he wouldn't even hesitate to dump a bucket of cold water over his friend to wake him up, but now...

"Marinette usually doesn't even show until after she get out of the sun," Alya said, letting out a sigh. Then she perked up. "But neither of them spent as much time in the water as we did and I think being in the water makes the sun rays more intense... and I know at least Marinette had stronger sunscreen than I do. I wouldn't be surprised if Mr. Pale Model here had super-strong 'screen."

"Yeah yeah yeah," Nino said quickly, nodding his head almost frantically. "Of course. So they should be good for a bit longer. And they probably won't nap for long, right? They'll be fine for a little longer."

* * *

As it turned out, Adrien and Marinette _should_ have put on sunscreen. By the time Alya and Nino woke them up several hours later, their skin was just starting to turn a light pink color.

"I almost don't want to touch them," Alya said as she reached out to shake Marinette awake. Her hand hovered centimeters from her friend's arm. "Sunburns can hurt so much."

"Maybe they can help each other put aloe on," Nino said gleefully. "Did you see the color Marinette turned earlier when Adrien was putting her sunscreen on?"

Alya glanced down at her sleeping friend. Marinette was sleeping mostly on her stomach, meaning that her burn was mostly in places that she wouldn't be able to easily reach by herself. _Someone_ would have to help her. That someone might as well be Adrien. Marinette would probably try to get Alya to help her, but Alya was getting _really_ good at making convenient excuses to push the two of them together whenever possible.

Marinette would forgive her eventually. Probably.

"Are Adrien and Marinette awake yet?" Nino's dad called. He stood by the walkway to the beach, towel over his shoulder and picnic basket in hand. "We need to get going soon."

"We're getting them up," Nino called back. Both Adrien and Marinette stirred at the yell. A second later, they bolted awake and apart with twin loud yelps. Their friends stared in surprise.

"Yowtch," Marinette groaned. She rubbed her eyes before glancing down at herself. "Why does my back hurt so much?"

"And my chest hurts," Adrien grumbled. Marinette glanced over at him and immediately blushed at the sight of his bare chest, the muscles in his stomach clearly defined.

"You might have gotten a bit sunburned," Nino started, before Alya's peal of laughter cut him off. She was standing behind Marinette, snickering loudly as she inspected her friend's burn. "What's so funny, Alya?"

"You can see where Adrien's arm was," Alya got out between loud guffaws. She carefully traced the unburnt section of Marinette's back and side where, sure enough, the outline of an arm and hand showed faintly.

Nino cackled. "Adrien has marks too! Look!" He reached out to point to the fuzzy outline of a head and an arm across Adrien's shoulder and chest. "You two were sleeping on each other for a long time, eh?"

"Funny thing, that," Adrien said dryly, even as Marinette's face flamed up as she realized that she had been sleeping on Adrien's bare chest. "I distinctly remember having a good meter of space between us when we lay down. And now-" he gestured to their towels, side-by-side and even overlapping a little bit "-that space has _mysteriously_ vanished. I don't suppose you know anything about that?" He gave Nino a very clear stink eye.

"No idea, bro. I guess you and Marinette here are just drawn together like magnets, huh?" Nino winked, ignoring Adrien's eye-roll.

* * *

The car ride back to their hotel was painful, for Marinette more than Adrien. Since it was Marinette's back that had sunburned, it pressed uncomfortably against both her shirt and the car seat. Adrien was trying to keep his own seatbelt from pressing against his chest.

"We'll stop by the store and pick up some aloe," Nino's mother said, turning in her seat to look back at the four of them. "Put it on before we go to dinner, all right? You should probably reapply before bed as well."

Adrien and Marinette both nodded.

"What's the room situation, Mom?" Nino asked, exchanging a non-too-subtle glance with Alya before he faced his mother again. "How many rooms do we have?"

"Your father and I are in one room, and the four of you are in another. Your room has two bedrooms, but you'll have to double up on beds." Nino's mom grinned at them. "We were lucky to get your room, really. We figured you guys might want to hang out right before bed and you wouldn't want to be wandering around in the hall in your pajamas. Besides, then it lessens the chance that you'll forget your room key and get locked out."

Undoubtedly, Nino's parents meant for the boys to be in one room and the girls in another. Predictably, that didn't happen.

"I propose we put the two sticky people in the same bed," Nino said as soon as they got into their room and his parents had left.

"I second the motion," Alya said immediately.

Adrien groaned. He could have seen that coming a mile away. "Haven't you guys gotten tired of doing this yet? Surely you have enough pictures of us already."

"The aloe will make the sheets sticky, and I don't want to sleep with sticky sheets," Alya immediately claimed, following Nino into their claimed room. "You two had already slept all over each other a zillion times. How is this any different?"

"It's a _bed,_ " Marinette muttered under her breath, knowing full well that it wouldn't do any good to complain. Alya and Nino were clearly set on pushing her and Adrien together.

"Well, shall we?" Adrien asked, gesturing to the other bedroom's door. Blushing (not that it was noticeable with her steadily reddening burn), Marinette led the way into the second bedroom and set her bag down.

Thankfully, the bed was a double. In theory, they should be able to share without ending up on top of each other.

Somehow, Marinette suspected that they still wouldn't manage to keep the space between them.

* * *

Adrien winced as he pulled a shirt over his sunburn, the fabric rubbing uncomfortably on his tender skin. The pale pink burn from earlier had darkened, and Adrien cringed as he imagined his father's reaction. Thankfully, it seemed that the sunscreen he had applied to his face had lasted longer than the sunscreen over the rest of his body, but he would definitely have to either put off his modelling for a bit or there would have to be a significant amount of Photoshop involved to make his skin look normal.

He had rubbed aloe into his burn, making it feel significantly better, but putting a shirt back on over the tacky residue from the gel just felt _weird._ Across the room, Marinette was struggling to apply aloe to her own burns. It was easy enough to put the gel on her side, shoulders, and neck, but the burn made it painful to twist around and get most of her back treated.

"I'll help," Adrien volunteered after several seconds of watching Marinette try to twist her arm back far enough to rub the gel in. He took the bottle of aloe before Marinette could protest and started working, beginning at her shoulders and working down. She had kept her swimsuit top on, and Adrien guessed that it was probably because it didn't press against her burned skin. Thankfully for her, it was a very conservative top and it covered a fair amount of skin; unfortunately, the cut of the suit in the back and on the shoulders meant that it probably wouldn't line up very well with a normal bra's straps.

"I really should have remembered to put on sunscreen again before I fell asleep," Marinette grumbled as Adrien worked his way down her back, trying to exert enough pressure to work the gel in but not so much that it would make her burn hurt. "Mom even reminded me about it before I left, because I always forget that water washes the sunscreen off faster."

Adrien laughed. "I _definitely_ should have remembered, but in my defense I tend not to spend a whole lot of time outside. I mean, school is inside, piano lessons are inside, fencing is inside, Chinese lessons are inside unless I can persuade my professor to go outside..."

"Modeling is outside though, right?" Marinette asked as Adrien finished her back and handed the aloe back to her. She started rubbing it into her legs, thankful that her swimsuit bottoms had a short skirt that pushed the burn line down a little bit. "I mean, some are inside but I've seen ones that were outside- I mean-"

"Some are outside," Adrien admitted, trying not to grin as Marinette stumbled over her words. "But I'm rarely in direct sun for long. My photographer always complains about the lighting not being right, and of course no one wants me to burn." He winced down at his very red arms and legs. "Too late for that now. Hopefully I'll actually tan and it won't look too bad."

"Five minutes until we leave for dinner!" Alya called from the other room. "Be decent! You can't wear your swimsuit to dinner!"

"Watch me," Marinette muttered rebelliously, covering the last of her burn in aloe and setting the bottle on the bedside table.

Adrien laughed. "Did you pack any skirts? They wouldn't feel awful against a burn."

"I brought two. Would you like to borrow one?" Marinette asked cheekily, pulling both skirts out of her suitcase and waving them at him. "I think the green one would go well with your eyes."

The model eyed the skirt Marinette held up dubiously. "Thanks, but I think it might come scandalously short on my frame since I'm taller than you are." He snatched the green skirt and held it up to his waist. Sure enough, it ended well before the knee. He handed it back to Marinette as she giggled. "I think my swimsuit and shorts are close enough in length that I should be fine."

Marinette ducked into the bathroom to change as Adrien got ready. She was keeping her swimsuit top on, even though there was some sand stuck in it. Over the top went a soft, flowy shirt that wouldn't press down on her burns too much, and then the green skirt to finish the ensemble. Marinette wished she had had the time to shower before dinner, since her hair was a salty mess, but there was no time. She'd have to fight Adrien for the shower once they got back.

"You guys coming?" Nino called from the main part of the room. "You don't need to try to look too pretty, we're not going anywhere too fancy."

"You mean I brought my best suit for nothing?" Adrien called back as Marinette emerged from the bathroom. He grinned at her and offered his arm. "Shall we?"

* * *

As it turned out, there was no need to fight Adrien for the shower. He volunteered to let her go first, since her hair was longer and would take more time to dry.

"I can always try to steal Alya and Nino's shower, too," Adrien pointed out with a shrug when Marinette opened her mouth to- protest? No, she wasn't going to protest him being a gentleman. She was just going to assure him that she wasn't going to take too long, that was all. "I mean, I think Alya showered earlier while we were putting the aloe on and Nino will take five minutes tops. I'll just grab my stuff out of there before you start showering."

Marinette let out a nod of agreement, and soon both of them were showered and salt-free as they could get. Marinette winced as she toweled herself off- hotel towels were _not_ the softest things out there and the aloe she had put on earlier had completely washed off, leaving her skin throbbing. The loose pair of sleep shorts she had packed thankfully didn't rub against the burn, but all of the shirts Marinette had packed did. Even the sleep shirt that Marinette had packed was uncomfortable. It was an old cotton shirt, perfect for travel and normally decently comfortable, but it felt far too rough against her sunburn. If she was in her own room, she might be tempted to sleep topless in her soft sheets, but she didn't have that option here.

Sighing, Marinette pulled her swimsuit top back on. She winced as she adjusted the straps until they were sitting exactly where they had been when she got burned. Finally satisfied that none of the straps were digging into sensitive skin, Marinette stepped back out into the bedroom. Adrien was already dressed for bed- well, partially dressed. He still hadn't put a shirt on.

Marinette tried not to stare too much at Adrien's exposed chest, but gave up within moments as she watched Adrien rub aloe into his sunburn. The paler outline of where Marinette's head and arm had been was well-defined now and looked a bit ridiculous, but it didn't take away from that fact that Adrien was _shirtless_ and _oh my god he has awesome abs_ and his hands looked _so. incredibly. sinful._ wandering over the bare skin as he rubbed the aloe in.

Marinette was _fairly_ certain that she had managed not to drool. Too much, at least.

"Do you need help rubbing the aloe in again?" Adrien asked, turning around and shoving his hair out of his face. Even without his hair gelled into its normal swoop and a sunburn, he was unfairly hot. "I can do it while my hands are already sticky."

"Y-yeah, that would be good," Marinette managed, offering up her back before she could stammer any more. _She had slept on that godlike chest. Gah._ Within seconds, Adrien's cool fingers were on her back, rubbing the sticky gel in with little circular motions. Marinette managed not to flinch away from the sensation, doing her best to ignore that it was _Adrien Agreste's_ fingers on her mostly-bare back. She tried to distract herself by working on treating the parts of the sunburn she could reach, like the back of her neck and her legs. It didn't work very well.

"Do you want to borrow my sleep shirt?" Adrien offered as his fingers worked downwards, briefly dipping under Marinette's swimsuit strap before continuing to her lower back. "It's really soft, but it's a bit too small to be comfortable on me with my burn."

Marinette's eyes widened as she tried to turn Adrien down. "But the aloe will get it all sticky! I don't want to ruin your shirt."

"It's old and on the small side. I was about to get rid of it anyway." Adrien finished rubbing the aloe in and reached into his suitcase, pulling out a shirt and offering it to Marinette. When she hesitated, Adrien added, "Besides, sleeping in your swimsuit top can't be comfortable. Just take my shirt, really."

"O- okay," Marinette said, finally reaching out and taking the shirt Adrien was offering. It definitely _was_ soft, and well-worn as well. The pattern in the front was faded, and the collar was starting to wear a little thin. She slipped it on as Adrien ducked into the bathroom to brush his teeth. As soon as she was certain that he wasn't going to suddenly pop back out, she twisted her way out of the swimsuit top and dropped it on top of the desk with the rest of her swimsuit.

"Does the shirt fit?" Adrien called from the bathroom. His voice sounded somewhat muffled, making Marinette suspect that he was speaking through a mouthful of toothpaste foam. There was a spitting sound, and then Adrien spoke again, his voice clearer. "Does it feel all right against the burn?"

"It's perfect, thank you," Marinette called back. The shirt didn't chafe at her burns, though it did stick a little uncomfortably against the aloe residue. She quashed her internal squeal of _oh my god I'm wearing Adrien's shirt_ (it smelled _amazing_ , not that she was sniffing it or anything) and stuck a cookie in her bag for Tikki (there was a quiet, muffled _thank-you_ from her bag) before she perched on the edge of the bed to wait for Adrien.

"I can't believe I'm still tired after sleeping so long this afternoon," Adrien commented as he exited the bathroom, turning the light off behind him. He sat down on the opposite side of the bed and stretched. Marinette tried and failed to ignore it. "We'll probably wake up way before Alya and Nino."

"They slept on the ride down," Marinette reminded him. "We didn't. I'd bet on them waking up first."

"Do you think Alya and Nino have realized that they'll actually have to share a bed?" Adrien asked as they slid under the sheets. He reached over to turn on the bedside light. "I don't think they actually thought about it at all."

"They've been dating for a while, though. Wouldn't they be fine with it?" Marinette lay down, then flipped over onto her stomach with a wince as the burn on her back protested.

Adrien shook his head. "I think they've been really casual about it for a while. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up finding them hanging off opposite sides of the bed." He settled on his back, just like he had been at the beach. "Do you want to just curl up like we were earlier? That way we'll both stay off our burns and we should be less likely to end up on top of each other in some really uncomfortable position."

"I- guess? S-sure." Marinette scooted over until she was right next to Adrien. They fumbled a little in the dark as they maneuvered into place, carefully placing arms and hands so that they wouldn't press against sunburned skin. Marinette's cheek rested against Adrien's chest again, her damp hair falling onto his shoulder. His arm wrapped around her back, his hand resting lightly on her hip. It felt comfortable and not at all awkward.

"Do you think Alya and Nino will ever get bored with setting us up like this?" Adrien's voice cut through the dark air, even though he was talking quietly. He shifted slightly under Marinette's head. "Not that I'm complaining about this at all. I like snuggling and Nino objects to it."

Marinette snorted. "I think they'll get tired of it eventually. I think they like the overreactions when we get up."

"Mmm. We've stopped doing that, I think." Adrien tugged Marinette closer, careful to avoid the worst of her sunburn. "I like sleeping like this. Good night, Mari."

"Night, Adrien."

* * *

"Pssst, Mari," Adrien hissed the next morning, giving the still-sleeping girl a light shake. She grumbled at him. "Want to go see how Alya and Nino are doing?"

"Ugh."

"Pretty please?"

Marinette cracked open an eye to glare at him. "Why do you care so much?"

Adrien grinned up at her sheepishly. "I want to see if I can get any blackmail on them."

"And if they're sleeping like normal people?"

"Then we'll come back to bed and sleep for a bit longer." Adrien grinned at the disgruntled look on Marinette's face. "And I'll buy you a smoothie later."

Marinette perked up. "Deal."

They slid off the bed ("The back of my _knees_ hurt," Marinette complained) and headed into Nino and Alya's room. There, as Adrien had predicted the night before, were a very awkward-looking Nino and Alya, clearly trying to keep as much space between them as possible. Alya was curled up only inches from her side of the bed, facing away from Nino. It was a miracle that Nino hadn't fallen off his side of the bed, since the boy was hanging partway over the side. A wall of pillows and blankets divided the bed into two.

Adrien was doing a fairly poor job of muffling his snickers. "Oh my god, this is even better than I thought it would be."

"I vote we keep last night's sleeping arrangements tonight as well, just so we can tease them about this."

Adrien grinned at Marinette as he pulled out his phone to take some pictures. "Revenge time?"

"Oh, you know it." Marinette grinned back, hopping up on a chair to get her pictures from the best angle. Adrien steadied her as she straightened, keeping a close eye on the rolling wheels on the bottom of the chair. His hands stayed on her hips (where he knew she wasn't burned) as Marinette first took pictures with her own phone, and then with his. She hopped down, whispering an apology as the chair rolled backward into Adrien. He only shrugged and grinned, his attention going to the pictures on his phone.

"So how should we wake them up?" Adrien asked, pocketing the phone. "Turning the lights on? Noisemakers? Are there any pots and pans in our room?"

Marinette only grinned.

* * *

The siren that cut through the air was loud, obnoxious, and was accompanied by poorly concealed cackling from two sunburnt teenagers. Nino let out a shriek as he startled awake and fell onto the floor with a _thud_. Alya nearly did the same thing on her side of the bed before she caught herself and sat up, glaring at Adrien and Marinette as they silenced the alarm on Adrien's phone.

"Bro, I _just_ fell asleep," Nino complained, climbing back up onto the bed. "Did you _really_ have to do that?"

Adrien smirked. "Of course we did. But what do you mean, you just fell asleep? We went to bed _hours_ ago. Was the bed not comfortable enough for you, or did you just spend all of your time building that lovely blanket wall there?"

"It's almost as if they didn't want to accidentally end up cuddling each other in their sleep!" Marinette exclaimed in false confusion, coming up behind Adrien and staring down their friends. "Funny, I always thought that they would be fond of cuddling, considering how much they like watching us do it."

Adrien nodded enthusiastically, playing along. "Maybe they just need tips on how to do it correctly. First, you need to get rid of the blanket wall." He pointed at it, smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "And you need to actually sleep close to each other, not on far sides of the bed."

Nino's jaw worked wordlessly as he exchanged a slightly panicked glance with Alya.

"At least they have another night to practice," Marinette added on, looping her arm around Adrien's. Their friends looked horrified.

"This is cruel and unusual punishment," Nino whined, sending an imploring look at Adrien and Marinette. "What do you two want?"

Marinette and Adrien smirked in almost disturbing unison.

"Revenge."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the end of the Sleepy Cuddles series! Thank you for reading! :)


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